CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2013)

JOHN OGDON Legendary British Virtuoso

EMI Classics 704637 2 (17 CDs) / *****

If there were a British pianist qualified to be called a super-virtuoso, that would be the late John Ogdon (1937-1989). This is a largest single edition of his recordings, drawn from the EMI Classics back catalogue dating from 1960 to 1976. He blazed a meteoric trail following a joint win with Vladimir Ashkenazy at the 1962 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, but was plagued by manic depression from the early-1970s. He made a short comeback in the mid-1980s but died from pneumonia (some say suicide-related), aged just 52. He savoured big repertoire works with an “omnivorous appetite” and “a primeval hunger for notes”, championing Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto and Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH (all 86 minutes of it), both included here in blistering performances.

Ogdon was himself a composer, and one gets to hear his Piano Concerto No.1, Piano Sonata and Theme & Variations, modernistic but tonal works, alongside modern composers like Bartok, Tippett, Messiaen, Dutilleux, his contemporaries Sherlaw Johnson, Goehr and Headington just to name a few. This set also features more popular repertoire, including concertos and solo music by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Schumann, Grieg, Chopin and Liszt, on which he also left an indelible mark. The final disc comprises delightful encore pieces. Which serious pianist today has time for Cecile Chaminade’s Automne, Cyril Scott’s Lotus Land (influenced by the Orient) or Sinding’s Rustle of Spring? Maybe Stephen Hough, but Ogdon was a one-off and his kind may never be seen again.

DVORAK Symphony No.9

Czech Suite / My Home

Malaysian Philharmonic / CLAUS PETER FLOR

BIS 1856 / *****

This might just be the last recording on the BIS label by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra as we know it. Embroiled in a controversy that saw the non-renewal of nine key and long-serving musicians last year, a worldwide boycott of the orchestra may have also adversely affected its future recording prospects. Nevertheless these 2009 recordings of popular and lesser-known Dvorak reveal exceptionally fine playing all around. The over-recorded New World Symphony does not suffer from over-familiarity in the slightest, and it sounds fresh and revitalised, served by excellent sound. The Largo is wonderfully atmospheric and the Slavonic dances of the final two movements simply bristle with excitement.

The fillers are well chosen. If the symphony pointed to native and Afro-American sources, Dvorak’s overture My Home (not his own title but one proffered by his publisher) and Czech Suite find their inspirations from his Bohemian homeland. The overture uses two popular local songs while the suite includes in its five movements rustic dances like the polka and furiant. Listen also for the drone-like bagpipe effects in its opening Pastorale. Not his greatest music, but when played as beautifully here, it is well worth the listen. It is hoped that no one gets to say that “The MPO was once a great orchestra”.        

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2012)

LEKEU Violin Sonata

RAVEL Complete Violin Music

ALINA IBRAGIMOVA, Violin

CEDRIC TIBERGHIEN, Piano

Hyperion  67820 / *****

What if the Belgian-composer Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894) had not died from typhoid at a tender age of just 24? On the evidence of his only Violin Sonata (1892/93) in G major, he might have become one of the great French-school composers of the Franck-Fauré-Chausson lineage that preceded the rise of the so-called impressionists. He was a student of Cesar Franck, which might explain the sonata’s similarities with his teacher’s own Violin Sonata, also composed for the great Belgian virtuoso Eugene Ysaye. Notable is the use of cyclical form, where the noble and lyrical main theme from the first movement returns in the finale, thus bringing unity to the sprawling 34 minute masterpiece.

Maurice Ravel’s violin music is hardly obscure, with the exception of his early Violin Sonata from 1897 (his Posthumous Sonata), which must not be confused with his Sonata of 1927 (also included here in this collection), with its iconic Blues movement. At 14 minutes, the ruminative quality of its single movement is reminiscent of Chausson’s rhapsodic Poeme, but its languidness does not scale the heights of ecstasy, a classic trait of the impressionists. Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova coaxes a pure and refined tone throughout without holding out on outright virtuosity. For the Lekeu rarity, hers is a breezy alternative to Arthur Grumiaux’s darkly-hued and brooding account from 1955. Ardently recommended.   

DVORAK Symphony No.7

Othello / The Wild Dove

Malaysian Philharmonic / CLAUS PETER FLOR

BIS SACD-1896 / *****

If anybody had suggested 15 years ago that some of the best recordings of Czech music came out from Malaysia, that person would have been considered fit for the lunatic asylum. Fact: German conductor Claus Peter Flor’s third recording with the Malaysian Philharmonic, of music by Antonin Dvorak, is an unqualified triumph. The Bohemian’s Seventh Symphony in D minor is the darkest and most Brahmsian of his great final symphonic trilogy. From its opening bars, one immediately feels the urgency, storms and stresses, which Flor works his charges to thrilling climaxes with chilling effect. The buoyant Slavonic dance that is its third movement provides some respite before being swept away by the relentless tide of the finale.

Of equal interest are the fill-ups, an overture and symphonic poem. The Shakespeare-inspired Othello is the third part of a triptych of concert overtures, with the programme of jealousy and murder vividly characterised. Even more sinister is The Wild Dove (Holoubek), based on a macabre folk ballad by Karel Erben. The tables are turned when a wife poisons her husband and marries someone else, but supernatural forces eventually wreak a terrible vengeance. All these make for excellent programme music, musical narration that tells a story without the use of words. Exciting stuff, brilliantly executed.

SSO Concert: Te Deum / Review

TE DEUM
Singapore Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (7 October 2011)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 10 October 2011 with the title "A visual and aural spectacle".

For guest conductor Claus Peter Flor’s second concert with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra within two weeks, French fare was on the cards. Better known for his interpretation of German and Central European repertoire, he brought much insight into works that were alike as chalk and cheese.

Sheer opulence and sensuousness coloured the opening work, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe Suite No.2. Is there a more evocative musical vision of dawn, with mellifluous birdsong on piccolo and flute, than this? The combined choir, clad in a rainbow of pastel shades, gave the proceedings an added gloss with wordless chants.

Paradise came to mind, with Jin Ta’s alluring flute solo in the Pantomime, so beautiful that one was sorry it had to end. The wallow then broke into an orgiastic final dance, with whoops of ecstatic joy from the chorus, bringing all to the edge of their seats.

No recording quite adequately prepares the listener to the visual and aural spectacle that is Berlioz’s Te Deum. The sight of a 170-strong chorus, with children’s choir perched high up on the wings, in stunning red gowns and formal outfits, was awe-inspiring in itself.

The massive opening orchestral chord, replied by Evelyn Lim’s magnificent issues from the pipe organ, for once unobstructed by the hall’s acoustic canopy, provided spine-tingling moments that were to recur throughout the performance. Size matters, according to the French composer who so loved giant ensembles, grandiloquent gestures and ear-shattering volume.

Despite that, both orchestra and chorus also delighted in the quieter and more circumspect minutes, such as the First Prayer (Dignare), where attention to enunciation and consonants was proof of genuine contrition. The sopranos had hairy moments with intonation in Tibi Omnes Angeli, but that mattered little in the grand scheme of things.

Australian tenor Steve Davislim, singing in the organ loft as if from heaven, provided a rich, sonorous bell-like clarity in the Second Prayer (Te Ergo Quaesumus). The sensitive exchanges between him and chorus were further proof that subtlety was also a hallmark here.

Men’s voices were impressive in the closing Judex Crederis, but was this a march of trepidation or one of triumph? As forces gathered, with trumpets, trombones and percussion fearlessly leading the throng, the entire chorus erupted into an apotheosis that could only indicate the latter. A tedium this Te Deum certainly was not. But when will we get to hear it again?

EROICA / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

EROICA
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Thursday (29 September 2011)

An edited version of this review was published in The Straits Times on 1 October 2011 with the title "Eroica full of surprises".

Ever wondered what it was like when Beethoven’s First Symphony was first heard by a Viennese audience in the year 1800? The key was in homely C major, but the first notes conjured the jarring interval of a seventh, sure way of making its first listeners jump out of their seats. That was the composer’s intended reaction, and it still sounds startling to this day.

When one thought one knew Beethoven’s symphonies well, here was a concert to put surprise back into the music. Such was the vision of guest conductor Claus Peter Flor, Music Director of the Malaysian Philharmonic, who made everything sound fresh, as if the notes were still hot off the press.

This was not the slick, super-fast versions we are more accustomed to, but one of ultimate control, where every note and phrase was calculated to pique the ear and challenge all pre-conceptions. Moderate tempos were adopted for the First Symphony, deliberate enough for fine details to be heard, but never protracted for its own sake.

The stammering introduction of the fourth movement, another Beethovenian trick, led to the most mercurial of finales. Here the playing soared with a scarcely believable fluency and buoyancy, guided by Flor’s expressive bodily gestures and audible stamping on the podium.

Two emphatically punched out chords opened the Third Symphony in E flat major (Op.55), also known as the Eroica. The urgency and accuracy signalled one of the great performances in collective memory. Again, broadness of pacing in the first movement revealed the hero to be a very human one, prone to angst and other failings. Passion flowed unabated, never tainted by superficial or glib responses of any kind.

The funeral march brooded with a solemn mystery. Not for the faint at heart was its encompassing of widest possible dynamics, from pianissimo to fortissimo within a heartbeat. Each movement followed attacca, without break to the next, reliving the harrowing hairpins of a rollercoaster ride. If one sought respite, there was to be none, even if the superb trio of French horns brought on smiles aplenty for the fleet-footed scherzo.

The theme and variations of the finale was another show of over-arching virtuosity. It was not just a proficient delivery of notes but the all-embracing kind of unity of spirit that warmed the heart and stirred the soul. The SSO has been performing concerts just comprising symphonies of late. On this form, who really misses the concertos?

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2011)

SMETANA Ma Vlast
Malaysian Philharmonic

CLAUS PETER FLOR
BIS SACD-1805 / *****

Almost every listener knows Bedrich Smetana’s Die Moldau or Vltava, the tone poem on the river that runs through the heart of Prague. But what about the other five works that make up the Czech nationalist’s orchestral cycle Ma Vlast (My Country)? Inspired by the localities, landscapes and legends of Bohemia, this is an extraordinary symphonic journey which makes for absorbing listening through its 75 minutes. Chords of bardic harps greet the opening of heroic Vysehrad (High Castle), a theme that famously recurs at the close of Die Moldau and the cycle itself.

A furious battle ensues in Sarka, the feminist-leaning legend has its heroine wreak a bloodthirsty vengeance on her male captors. The thread of nature returns for From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, a Slavonic dance that glorifies the humble polka. The final two poems Tabor and Blanik are nationalist in character, utilising the Hussite hymn Ye Who Are Warriors Of God (after the martyrdom of Reformation cleric Jan Hus), a rallying call for all Czech heroes and patriots. This music offers little concession to non-Czech ensembles, but the superb Malaysian Philharmonic led by German conductor Claus Peter Flor rises to the occasion with unflinching aplomb. Listen for yourself, and you will see.

BOOK IT:
CLAUS PETER FLOR 

conducts SSO

29 September: 

BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos.1 & 3

7 October: 

RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé 

& BERLIOZ Te Deum

7.30 pm, Esplanade Concert Hall
Tickets available at SISTIC

Claus Peter Flor with the Conservatory Orchestra / Review

CLAUS PETER FLOR with
The Conservatory Orchestra
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall
Friday (4 March 2011)

An edited version of this review was published

in The Straits Times on 7 March 2011

with the title "Sweet but short rhapsody"

Every year, the Conservatory invites a prominent musician to be its Ong Teng Cheong Visiting Professor, and spend a week in residency conducting masterclasses or training its orchestra. The eminent German conductor Claus Peter Flor, Music Director of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, proved to be a big hit with his younger colleagues.

It was a short concert by any means, but one not lacking in quality of playing. For Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, Flor brought out a direct and unfussy reading. A swirling vortex of clear string sound emerged from the depths of basses, and when the violas and cellos sang out the familiar flowing melody, it had the pristine quality of fresh spring water.

Climaxes were gradually built up, resounding with a plethoric boom that was not always comfortable, but that had to do with the hall’s harsh and strident acoustics.

The slow movement followed with nary a break, and seemed to take its walking pace a little too briskly. This soon settled down to a goodly tempo, allowing another series of ebbs and flows to rise and recede with similar ease. Despite woodwinds faltering for a few moments midway through, the performance had much to commend.

Concertante works occupied the second half, spotlighting Head of Strings Qian Zhou’s gorgeous violin tone. Eugene Ysaye was the dedicatee of Ernest Chausson’s rhapsodic Poeme, where an element of fantasy reigned. Supported by the grouped strings’ warm chorale playing, her seamless narrative unravelled with matchless beauty.

A different kind of playing was called upon for Bartok’s First Rhapsody, written for Joseph Szigeti. Here an earthy, rough-hewn texture made the opening recruiting dance tilt with a rustic Magyar swagger. Then the pace quickened, and so did free-wheeling solo, which got increasingly tipsy - but never in expense of control – all the way till the final brusque chord.

Brahms’s popular Fifth Hungarian Dance was the appropriate built-in encore, brilliantly paced by the band responding to Flor’s every glance, nod and minute gesture. Want to hear another one? Both obliged with the Sixth Hungarian Dance, and it was an equal pleasure following the podium choreography. It was evident that all on stage were having a ball of a time.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2009)

CHOPIN Complete Works 

GARRICK OHLSSON, Piano et al 

Hyperion 44351/66 (16 CDs) 

Rating ****1/2 

The piano is central to every piece of music that Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) wrote, and this handy box-set by American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, includes every single note. Virtually all his solo piano music is heard regularly these days, but the odds and ends including an enjoyable piano trio, small body of cello music, Polish songs and a solitary flute work remain rarities. Are these worth listening to? Yes, that is because Chopin – like Mozart - is one of those sensitive souls for whom beauty is an essential and little is ever routine. 

Ohlsson also marks himself as Chopin interpreter par excellence, even if aficionados may already have their personal favourites like Argerich (in the Préludes), Perahia (Études), Pires (Nocturnes), Lipatti (Waltzes), Zimerman (Concertos) and Rubinstein (in pretty much everything else). 

The recordings date mostly from the 1990s, originally issued by the now-defunct Arabesque label. The singular biggest draw here is its price; $99.95 at HMV works out to about $6 a disc or under 9 cents per minute of unalloyed pleasure. Hard to resist?

DEBUSSY / POULENC Cello Sonatas 

JEAN-GUIHEN QUEYRAS, Cello 

ALEXANDRE THARAUD, Piano 

Harmonia Mundi 902012

Rating ****1/2 

Two 20th century French icons Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) are united on this disc with the common goal of reviving French values in music. What may these be? For starters, it is the avoidance of dense counterpoint as espoused by the Germans, and steering clear of Wagner’s “modernism”. Secondly, a conscious return to the dance-forms of an earlier age, represented by the likes of Couperin and Rameau. Debussy’s Cello Sonata (1915) is the epitome of conciseness and clarity, all 11-minutes of it. Its middle movement Serenade is an evocation of evening minstrels and midnight trysts. 

Poulenc’s Cello Sonata (1948) joyously espouses the concept of “exquisite bad music”, one that does not take itself too seriously. Its third movement is entitled Ballabile, which literally means “danceable”; it is a gay, unpretentious and light-hearted romp. This album also includes Debussy’s “slower than slow” waltz La plus que lente, Poulenc’s Suite Francaise (based on 16th century dances) and two shorter pieces. Totally delectable.

JOSEF SUK Asrael Symphony 

Malaysian Philharmonic 

Claus Peter Flor, Conductor 

BIS SACD-1776

Rating ***** 

The Czech composer Josef Suk (1874-1935) is best known as the son-in-law of Antonin Dvorak and grandfather of the great violinist of the same name. His popular Serenade for Strings has been making its rounds, but the undisputed masterpiece is the 5-movement symphony Asrael of 1906. Named after the Islamic “Angel of Death”, it was borne of tragic circumstances; both Suk’s young wife and Dvorak had died within a year of each other. 

Running just over an hour, its musical language is influenced by Wagner and owes a debt to Mahler and Richard Strauss, while leaving Dvorak’s folksy symphonies in its wake. The quiet opening looks forward to Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, while the tense and eventful scherzo predicts Prokofiev and Hollywood composers. Those seeking a sumptuously orchestrated canvas to wallow in, look no further. The Malaysian Philharmonic, conducted by its new Music Director in their first recording together, is on sizzling form.